Chapter 65

Chapter 21: Using Barbarians to Control Barbarians

Seeing the astonished expressions on everyone's faces, Sun Lan felt as refreshed as if he had drunk a bottle of icy cola on a scorching summer day. He didn't believe that at this point, Su Aijun would still refuse to back down! He had already found out that the reason the Japanese manga company came to sign a contract with Su Aijun was largely due to Bai Lin's efforts, and the initial contact was also made through Bai Lin. This indicated that Bai Lin must be very familiar with Su Aijun and their relationship must be very close.

"Such a despicable person!" Fang Bin's face turned pale with anger, and he gritted his teeth as he cursed.

"Despicable person? This only shows how foolish you are! A bunch of country bumpkins, you think you can compete with me!" Sun Lan said smugly. Insulting someone doesn't hurt him at all, and the more they curse, the more it shows their inability to change anything. It seems that his goal is about to be achieved, and his immigration plan is about to succeed.

"Uncle Su, for such a despicable person, there's no need to be polite! Just get rid of him; he's disgracing all of us Chinese!" Fang Mingyuan suddenly said, having reached the limit of his disgust with Sun Lan's behavior.

"Despicable person? Little brat, who the hell are you cursing?" Sun Lan's face turned red with embarrassment; a ten-year-old kid dared to speak so disrespectfully!

Fang Bin immediately stood up, grabbed Sun Lan by the collar, and lifted him up, saying fiercely, "Say one more dirty word, and I'll make you crawl down the stairs!" Fang Bin was a skilled fighter in Hai Zhuang Town in the past. Although he had become wealthy in recent years and no longer had the leisure to get involved in such matters, he had never stopped exercising. With this one move, Sun Lan felt as if his neck was clamped by an iron vise, and he involuntarily stood up.

"Little Uncle, don't use your hands; he'll cry soon enough," Fang Mingyuan stopped Fang Bin, saying, "Hitting him would only dirty your hands!" Fang Bin then let go and returned to his seat.

Su Aijun gave Sun Lan a cold look, got up, and sat on the sofa. He picked up the phone next to the sofa. "Brother, it's me, Aijun. I need you to check something for me. Who is the party secretary of the China Import and Export Corporation? What's his phone number? Yes, I need to trouble him with something. Yes, there's an employee of their company who is being arrogant here. Ah? Kill him, ha ha, I'm just a department head at a university, I don't have that power. Okay, he can call me too; you know my number. Hurry up, we're having dinner, and looking at him is making me lose my appetite."

Sun Lan, feeling the pain in his neck, looked at the furious Fang Bin, wanting to say more but afraid that Fang Bin would really hit him. The people in the northwest are not like those in Beijing; they often resort to violence at the slightest provocation. He looked at his own arms and legs, then at Fang Bin's, and obediently shut his mouth. He thought to himself, "A wise man doesn't suffer a loss in the present; I'll settle this with you later!"

He looked at Su Aijun, who was making a call, and thought, "You can brag all you want; a small department head is a million miles away from a company party secretary. You even want him to call you, hah, I'll see how you handle this."

"Mr. Fang, what's going on?" Kōmoto Tetsuichi suddenly asked Fang Mingyuan.

"Mr. Fang?" Sun Lan was immediately startled; this wasn't the way Chinese people usually speak. Only now did he notice Kōmoto Tetsuichi, and the more he looked, the more he felt uneasy. This person looks like a Japanese!

Fang Mingyuan looked at Sun Lan and Koizumi Keiji with disgust and said, "Mr. Kōmoto, these are the signing editors from *Weekly Shonen* who came to Fengyuan, Koizumi Keiji, and his translator, Sun Lan. They insist that I sign that extremely harsh contract. They're using all sorts of despicable means, even threatening my uncle's job and housing allocation." He then exaggeratedly told Kōmoto Tetsuichi about Koizumi Keiji and Sun Lan's arrogance from the moment they met.

Sun Lan's hand on the table trembled, and he knocked over his wine glass, but fortunately, it was already empty. Fang Mingyuan's words revealed two important pieces of information: Mr. Kōmoto, clearly a Japanese surname, as there are no Kōmotos in China; and the author of *Yū Yū Hakusho* is not Su Aijun, but this teenager who looks to be about fourteen or fifteen! And Bai Lin is his uncle.

Kōmoto Tetsuichi frowned, having already understood the gist of the situation. "Mr. Fang, you said their contract is extremely harsh. How harsh is it?"

Fang Mingyuan stood up, found the *Weekly Shonen* contract on Su Aijun's desk, and handed it to Kōmoto Tetsuichi. Kōmoto Tetsuichi flipped through it, and his eyes immediately widened. No wonder Fang Mingyuan said the contract was extremely harsh; it was practically a slave contract! Kōmoto Tetsuichi couldn't find the right words to describe it.

He stood up angrily and sat across from Koizumi Keiji, who looked at him in surprise. Because he didn't understand Chinese, Koizumi Keiji hadn't paid attention to what Sun Lan and the others were saying. Sun Lan had already guaranteed that Su Aijun would sign the contract today, so he had been lost in thought, imagining how his uncle would praise him when he returned to Japan with the contract. Kōmoto Tetsuichi had been silent the whole time, so he hadn't noticed his presence.

"I am Kōmoto Tetsuichi, an editor at *Monthly Shonen*. You are Koizumi Keiji, an editor at *Weekly Shonen*?" Kōmoto Tetsuichi asked in Japanese.

Koizumi Keiji was startled and quickly stood up straight. Although *Monthly Shonen* was a newly established manga company, its backer, Enix Corporation, was not to be underestimated. "Yes! I am Koizumi Keiji, hello, Mr. Kōmoto!"

"Mr. Koizumi, please sit. I want to know, is this the contract your company has prepared for Mr. Fang?" Kōmoto Tetsuichi asked coldly.

"Mr. Fang?" Koizumi Keiji looked up in surprise. Who is Mr. Fang?

"The author of *Yū Yū Hakusho*! Tell me, is this the contract your company has prepared for Mr. Fang?" Kōmoto Tetsuichi said impatiently. How could *Weekly Shonen* send such an incompetent person? After so long, he still doesn't know who the author is. Although he was grateful to *Weekly Shonen* for this, as it led Fang Mingyuan to choose him, this was still a huge embarrassment for the Japanese! Capitalists can't profit without exploiting, but there must be limits. This contract is like killing the goose that lays the golden eggs!

Koizumi Keiji looked at the contract on the table, his face turning red, and he stammered, unable to speak. He wasn't stupid; this contract was clearly inappropriate in Japan. If only the Chinese had discovered it, it wouldn't be a big deal; they would protest but couldn't take any effective action. But if it fell into the hands of a competitor, it would be a serious issue for *Weekly Shonen*!

"Never mind, we don't belong to the same magazine. I don't want to say much about your company's actions. I just want to inform you that Mr. Fang has already signed a formal contract with *Monthly Shonen*. Your despicable tactics of threatening authors to sign contracts have disgraced us Japanese! If Mr. Koizumi, you still persist in this, be prepared to receive a summons from the court!" Kōmoto Tetsuichi picked up the contract from the table, "This is the best evidence. With it, I believe the judges will understand why Mr. Fang chose us and not you!"